The Snowglobe
by RoyalBlueberry
Summary: A girl named Mariya Whitewater of Mermaid Heel tells Gray and his friends about a horrifying new demon that very well may be Deliora's reincarnation. But Natsu smells something fishy about this girl- She won't tell them anything else and seems to be observing Lucy from a distance. Is she simply a damsel in distress or something more? EveXOC
1. Characters

**Hi guys. I used to accept OCs, but I decided not to anymore, so yeah. Dopydopydoo. Howsit goin? -w- Anyways, here's my OC. I accepted two Ocs, which will appear later on. **

**Mermaid Heel charc.**

Name: Mariya Whitewater

Hair: Dark pink with white tips

Eye: gray

Personality: ?

Magic: ?

History: ?

Age: 23

Where the stamp is located and what color: White and on her right thigh

Other: ?


	2. The Letter

The girl knelt and felt the breeze sway her pink hair lightly, back and forth. She gazed at the waters below her, flower petals falling upon it, creating soft ripples. She stood up and surveyed her surroundings once before turning around and heading back to the guild headquarters of her guild, Mermaid Heel.

The breeze swished around her as she walked, gently stirring the sides of her light, cherry blossom pink dress. The girl reached down slowly to pluck a flower from its roots. It gave away easily at her touch. Suddenly, a gust of strong wind tore the flower out of her hands.

Uselessly the girl reached out to grab it again, but moments later, it was out of her reach.

Just like he was.

Every single day since they met, she searched for him. The one who helped her during her quest. When he left, the girl cursed herself for many days, saying to herself,

"I should have remembered his guild name."

He left her, going back to his guild. Where he belonged. But the girl still wanted to see him. It had been eight years since they last had, after all. As she watched the flower float away, she sighed and turned back to the path she had been going to for eight years. Her guild, Mermaid Heel.

* * *

The letter flapped its way on, using its body to flap its way into Fairy Tail. A soft breeze urged it along, ruffling its frayed edges a bit. Finally with one last flap it landed. On someone's face.

"W-what is this?" A girl with light blue hair murmured to herself, pulling the piece of paper off her face. She opened it, but before giving it a quick scan, read the name of the receiver. Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail…

The girl turned around and opened the wide doors of Fairy Tail. "Lu-chan! Have you seen Gray?" She greeted a girl with blonde hair.

"No, I haven't, Levy-chan. But why are you looking for Gray?" Lucy questioned. She noticed an evil Juvia lurking the corner and turned back to Levy.

"There's a letter here for him." Levy held the paper up and Lucy snatched it from her hands. Lucy opened it up and read it, full through, and her fingers started to shake. Levy noticed his and asked,

"Lu-chan, are you okay?"

Lucy pushed past Levy and hurried over to Natsu, who was devouring fish like it was the end of the world, Happy next to him, eating raw fish. Levy observed Lucy yell something at Natsu, who looked up stupidly as his response. Levy chuckled, and then turned around.

"Natsu! I'm telling you, what's on this letter is serious! We have to find Gray…" Lucy said. She used her quick thinking to knock the fish out of Natsu's hand in a futile attempt to make him stop and listen for once. Lucy sighed when Natsu merely stole a piece of fish from a protesting Happy. She rapped his head and then whispered in his ear.

Natsu froze. He stood up and almost shouted the name out, but Lucy quickly covered his mouth.

"Hush! We have to tell Gray first, he's the one who sealed its first form… I think…" Lucy muttered, taking his hand and dragging him away to find Gray, Natsu muttering to himself. Happy trailed at the back, reading the letter slowly. Lucy rounded the corner and immediately saw Gray without his shirt, sitting in a chair, talking to Cana, oblivious to the jealous Juvia watching.

"Gray, we need to talk. It's about this letter that came for you this morning. Levy found it using a delivery type magic to make it flap its way here. Come on!" Without giving him time to even think about it, Lucy pulled him into a corner, Natsu still within her grip.

She took the letter from Happy and shoved it at Gray. She watched his expression as he read the letter, letting Natsu go in the process. Natsu stood up, grumbling when Gray dropped the letter and looked down at his hands, fury enlightening his eyes.

"D-Deliora?! It's been… REINCARNATED?! This can't be! I sealed it away, and now it finds another body to possess as if my efforts were for nothing?!" Gray yelled. He read the letter again and pushed past his friends.

"Gray? Where are you going?" Lucy asked quizzically, following close behind him as she trekked out of the building. "Gray?" He didn't seem to hear her, and muttered to himself.

Natsu followed them after bringing a large hunk of meat with him, and Happy supplied himself with a fish. Munching on it and thinking furiously, Natsu glared at the skies above and considered yelling, but finally he decided against it. "Hey Cold Blood, where are you going?"

That caught Gray's attention.

"Don't call me cold blood, hothead!" He growled, pushing his head against Natsu.

"Don't call me a hothead, Ice-breath!" Natsu hissed back. They bickered back and forth, Happy hanging above them, munching on his raw fish. Yuck.

"Guys! Stop it!" Lucy tried to tear them apart, but luckily right then a certain red headed beauty appeared.

"Natsu, Gray… Stop fighting." Her eyes were shadowed and a black aura surrounded her. The boys immediately ceased their fighting. They glanced at each other before making chibi faces and holding onto each other's shoulders and badly pretending that they were friends in an attempt to appease Erza.

Thankfully for them, it worked.

"Good, good. Now, where were you guys going to go?" Erza said, lightening up. She put her armored hands on her equally armored hips before turning to glance from outside to her team.

"Oh that's right." Gray muttered, continuing the silent spree outside. He walked quickly and efficiently, so fast that even Erza had to jog to catch up. Erza quickly caught up to him and was about to tap his shoulder when Happy gave her the letter, which she quickly scanned.

"… THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" Erza exclaimed her pace moving to be even faster than Gray, her arms thrusting the letter back to Happy. Lucy had to hurry quickly, before thinking about Wendy. They had left her behind! Oops. Carla and Wendy almost always was with them, but today she had scheduled a meeting with Chelia Blendy, so hopefully she wouldn't notice for a long time.

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked, hoping to get an answer this time. The air, although blasting at her face, was beginning to make breathing more difficult.

"We are going to visit the girl who sent us the letter." Gray said finally, not slowing down even when a passerby accidently spilled some sauce over him as they quickly went by.

Lucy pulled the letter away from Happy (Why does he always have it, anyway?) and read the name of the sender, Natsu beginning to lag behind.

Mariya Whitewater.

**(A/N: Hi, again! And Soul Keeper Kokoro, thanks so much for reviewing! I know now for sure that you will be in this story, since you were the first to review in such a while. And don't worry, your OC will come the next chapter, and please please PLEASE tell me if there are any mistakes, thanks!)**


	3. Where the Poison Spores Live

The girl trampled slowly back to Mermaid Heel, taking in a sharp intake of air as she saw the light blue hue of the sky. Her feet made small, light footsteps in the grass. The air rippled and slung across the grass as if it owned it. She swiftly kneeled and whispered something inaudible. A large wood plank pushed out from beneath the grass, tearing it apart. The girl stood up, sighed, put the plank down next to the patch of grassy dirt, and went along her way.

Her steps ruffled the grass a bit. She looked up at the sky, which was beginning to tint itself lightly white with the passerby clouds. The girl realized she had taken far too long. She shuffled her way back to Mermaid Heel in time to see the visitors arrive. She paid them no attention as they tried to ask her something, although burning guilt tugged at her heart.

She walked into the building, her uneven steps scuffling the dust underneath her feet. Her hair swished, ungracefully, at that, from side to side, threatening to slap the members of Mermaid Heel who were passing by. Slowly she reached up to poke the shoulder of a guild member, and directed her towards the entrance. Shaking the vase on a nearby end table lightly, she heard a jumble of confused, irritated and impatient voices outside. Sighing, the girl was about to step outside when the door burst open.

"Um… They want to see you, Mariya-chan." The other girl said, peeking in. Slowly and yet quickly, Mariya stepped outside, having a vague idea of who was there.

She was right.

"What is this?!" Gray shouted, shoving the letter at Mariya. Surprised, Mariya stumbled backwards, catching the letter as she did so.

"Don't push her, Gray!" Lucy said, pulling him back, irritated with his childish behavior. She tried to calm him down, but Erza was even madder. Her eyes were wide and her pupils had become small. Was she hyperventilating?

Mariya stood up and said, "I only wrote what I have heard, and was assigned to do." And they made no sense.

"But read this letter! You wrote it yourself, didn't you?!" Erza cried, pointing at the letter, still completely confused and outraged. "He would never do this! He's a good person! Jellal's _changed._" Erza insisted.

Mariya looked down at the letter. The door to the base building creaked open and a girl crept out of it. Her incredibly long, white hair almost pressed against the ground when she stumbled lightly. Mariya noticed her and gave her the letter, motioning for her to read it.

Taking in a deep breath, the girl read aloud,

"Dear Gray Fullbuster, I heard something peculiar that I thought you should know, and I know you won't refuse helping me. The demon Deliora has been reincarnated by a man named Jellal,"

The girl paused to take another breath and steal a glance at Erza, whose face had gone white when she read the man's name,

"And I need help on sealing it… From Mariya Whitewater of Mermaid Heel."

She finished, looking up at Mariya uneasily.

"Thank you, Hoshiko-chan." Mariya said, taking the letter from her. "What is the problem with this letter? Did I write something wrong?"

"No, it's not that…" Lucy said, biting her lip. She glanced at Erza and made a small nod with her head, motioning her to speak on. Thankfully, Erza did.

"Jellal is a good man. He would never do this!" She said angrily. Then she recollected herself with some patience, (Which lasted about five minutes of silence) and continued, "I know Jellal. He's changed. He's not evil anymore! He wouldn't do this."

Hoshiko moved behind Mariya, her shyness taking over. Mariya turned around and then whispered something in her ear. Hoshiko nodded and moved out from behind her.

"Before we move on to… Jellal… Why don't we go and destroy Deliora? We can focus on Jellal later," Mariya mused.

"But we can't move on!" Erza cried. Mariya flinched at her voice level, afraid Kagura would come out to see what was wrong.

Hoshiko dug in a small bag, and brought out a silver key and whispered, "Open, gate of volume, Bruit." Seconds later, a small, poofy little celestial spirit that looked like a speakerphone poofed out of nowhere, landing next to Hoshiko.

Hoshiko whispered, "Please lower her voice volume, Bruit." Bruit made a twinkly, chirping sound and waved a hand in the air. Immediately, Erza's ranting voice became smaller until it was high-pitched and quietly squeaky.

Lucy struggled to hold back a nervously amused laugh when she noticed the spirit next to the kneeling Hoshiko.

"Is… That a stellar spirit?" Lucy asked.

"Nooooo." Hoshiko said sarcastically, which showed that she had warmed up to them. Well, to Lucy at least.

"Are you a Celestial Spirit mage as well?" Gray asked in place of Lucy who was busy trying to keep Erza from punching a startled Mariya.

"Gimmie backs my voice!" Erza squealed. She pumped her fist in the air, trying to hit Mariya, who was apologizing over and over again.

Hoshiko glanced at Mariya and nodded slowly. "Although I do not have any gate keys, I do have some silver keys." She opened up her bag and revealed a jumble of gleaming silver keys.

Then she patted Bruit's head and said, "Come on. We must make it to the outskirts of Fiore to defeat the demon." Hoshiko tugged at Mariya's hair, and she stood up.

"Yes, let's go." Mariya sighed. She turned and motioned for them to follow. Lucy followed, pulling along a lagging Natsu and holding a lazy Happy by the tail, and it took both Hoshiko and Gray to drag a protesting Erza from her spot in front of Mermaid Heel.

Mariya glanced behind her and tried not to laugh. Then she turned towards her temporary nakamas, and opened up a map she produced from her bag.

"We are supposed to go to the outskirts of Fiore," She said, pointing at the corners.

Lucy shivered, and asked, "Where the poison spores live?" Natsu grimaced and Gray winced; Erza, on the other hand, had managed to get out of Gray's grip and was now yelling at Hoshiko, demanding her voice be turned back.

Mariya nodded. "Where the poison spores live."

**(A/N: HIIIII~ THANK YOU ETERNAL SLUMBERING FOR REVIEWING! And Bruit was french for noise and completely made up, lol. Now I can't think of what to say. Well, my teachers always said if you can't think of anything to write, just write "I can't think of anything to write", but I won't do it cuz I'm too lazy to type that over and over again xD)**


	4. The Outskirts of Fiore

"My feet… Is that a boat?!" Natsu cried, digging away before stopping, his stomach already starting to feel sick. He reached up in a useless attempt to help himself before falling to the ground.

"Oh I'm so sorry! I forgot you were a dragon slayer," Mariya apologized. "But we'll still have to take the boat to get past the swamp…" Mariya murmured quietly, scanning the thick, dark mist surrounding them.

Erza pushed away a frog with her boot and Gray shivered when he stepped into the muddy goo of the swamp.

Hoshiko climbed on the boat with Lucy, and Erza got in reluctantly, her voice changed back. Gray was about to get in when he noticed Mariya watching Lucy out of the corner of her eye. What was _that_?

Then he got in the boat, pushing a hurling Natsu away. Of course, he thought nothing of it. Yet.

Erza scanned the swamp, taking in its disgustingly murky features. She jumped when she heard the slimy water gurgle and bubble. "This is… Revolting. I never knew the outskirts of Fiore were so…" Erza trailed off, sitting back down.

Hoshiko pulled out another key and Lucy leaned over to inspect it.

"Which key is that?"

"The key to my house." She said plainly. She inspected it for a moment, and then carefully turned it around, as if she were afraid it may break.

"Oh, I see." Lucy retracted, embarrassed.

Hoshiko put the key away and Gray pulled his shirt off. "This place is so hot! I'm practically steaming." He complained.

Mariya, not even bothering to look at him, explained, "The swamp has a feature of magical spells, so you should feel a change in your powers."

Gray tried out his ice spells and called out, "Ice-make shield!" It appeared in his hands, but the minute it did, it melted. Gray made a face. "So our powers don't work here. Fantastic."

Mariya turned away, but Gray caught a glimpse of her face before she did. She was smiling.

She was the queen of _strange_. Gray turned back to his team. Lucy was talking to Hoshiko, trying to see the rest of her keys, Erza was staring, disgusted, at the swamp, Happy was trying to talk to Natsu, who was leaning off the edge of the back, trying not to hurl.

Gray also leaned off the edge to stare into the water. Then, suddenly it bubbled. Gray brought his face to take a closer look, ignoring Natsu's groaning on the other side. It bubbled for a second more and then... He saw it... It was a face... In the water.

"AHH!" Gray jumped back, and the boat teetered, almost dropping everyone off.

"Gray! What is wrong with you?!" Lucy asked, reaching for her keys that she had dropped in the murky water.

"T-there was a face… In the water." He gulped. Mariya reached over to snatch the keys out of the goo, giving it to Lucy.

Lucy grimaced, because her keys were still dripping goo. "What face?" She asked Gray.

Erza looked into the water. "I don't see anything." Mariya pointed at the keys.

"They should stay green for a bit—it's the side effect of the goo." Then she turned to Gray. "There are no faces in this water. It's impossible for someone to survive in this thickness, and besides, nobody hardly ever comes here."

"Then why are we here?" Asked Natsu, his face bloated. The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

Hoshiko murmured, "This is a shortcut."

Mariya lifted up a bag and dipped it in the green goop as they passed by, the boat being controlled by Virgo (Who was paddling silently).

"By the way, Mariya, what magic do you use?" Lucy asked, trying to wipe her keys.

Mariya seemed to freeze, as Erza asked the same thing. Then she slowly said, "I don't have… Any magic."

Gray gave her a surprised look. It was an obvious lie, but he kept quiet. He needed to see where this girl was going at.

He glanced around the musky swamp, complete with its own stinky blast of air. He fanned himself, trying to get the burning heat off. '_This is insane,_' he thought to himself, '_these outskirts are _terrible_! Is this really a shortcut?'_

Mariya glanced at Lucy, and then stared at the water and an awkward silence covered them, the only sounds were the swish of the paddle and an occasional clink of keys.

Suddenly the boat lurched and everyone was thrown forwards. "Virgo! Why didn't you tell us we were nearing land?!" Lucy asked, trying to squirm her way out from under Erza's death armor.

"Is it time for punishment, Princess? I didn't find this 'land' suitable to be called 'land', so I didn't say anything." Virgo responded, and then gave them a bow and magically disappeared.

Erza winced when she carefully stepped out of the nasty stuff. "Even Virgo agrees this is not regular land."

"It looks like it's been raining extra hard here," Mariya mumbled. Although she was wearing flats, she jumped off the boat and she sank about two inches.

Then she pulled her foot out and stepped forward, and then walked (With some effort) like that ahead.

Complaining silently to herself, Hoshiko followed after pulling a Natsu out and watching his body sink. She glanced back to make sure everyone was following.

Gray kicked the disgusting goop, but he ended up getting his foot stuck.

"Hurry up, Gray!" Lucy called, although she was farther behind, trying to pull Natsu out. "ACK!" With a cry, Lucy fell, mush splattering everyone.

"Back at you!" Gray called back, finally tugging his foot loose. He turned to the tree he was standing next to and punched it, furious that its roots had pulled him down. Wait, _what_?!

_'GURG GURG GURG'_

A strange gurgling filled Gray's ears. He covered them and closed his eyes, it was deafening. Only then did he realize it was coming from the tree.

**(A/N: I really hate editing, so I don't do it most of the time, and then I end up regretting it... BAH! WHO CARES! Lol okay, So I own nothing, except the outskirts, and Mariya. I don't even own Hoshiko, lol. Okay, so this is unedited cause I hate editing, so if you see a mistake plz tell me -w-)**


	5. Yovanna

**(HI! I know I haven't updated in, well, FOREVER. So sorry... Lol. Anyways, uh thanks for reviewing, Guest! Your OC will come.. Soon xD.. Oh btw, I own Fairy tail. Yeah. I really, honestly do. You know whats coming up? Nalu. In the anime. Canon.**

**Canon. (LOL JK I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL LOL))**

The girl with raven-black hair raised her eyes in alarm, and stood up. "_THAT'S_ what you have to do to find him?!" She shouted, and then she stopped herself and sat back down.

The other girl winced. "Shush, Tamiya. Someone will notice us and chase us off," She whispered worriedly, scanning the barn in which she and Tamiya were conversing in.

Tamiya shook her head sadly. "This person is insane! As IF you would kill someone!" Tamiya trailed off uncertainly as the other girl hung her head in shame.

Tamiya blinked, her black her swinging with the breeze. She blinked her sparkling pink eyes three times. Then she pursed her lips. She scrunched up her face until it no longer had the pretty shine, and then she cried, "ARE YOU SERIOUS!"

The girl nodded, blinking back tears that were gathering in the corners of her now dull, gray eyes.

"I lost him once. I will not lose him again." She whispered softly. The silence between the friends was louder than the cry of a hawk.

"I… I am shocked," murmured Tamiya, "You are slowly transforming into a yandere."

The girl snapped her head up, her eyes sparking up with fire. "I am NOT!"

Tamiya flinched, realizing she had hurt the girl's feelings. "I'm sorry, but I think you need to think about this," she stammered, "If you do this, you'll no longer be the Mariya I know."

Then Tamiya turned and burst out of the barn. She needed to think.

Back in the barn, Mariya closed her eyes fiercely, willing the tears to come.

And they did.

* * *

"EVERYONE! WATCH OUT! THERE'S A RABID TREE ON THE LOOSE!" Although it sounded quite funny, everyone turned towards the tree.

Their eyes widened in shock as the tree's base split, revealing a large, shiny mouth. Its roots tore from the ground and Gray could feel his heart pound a million miles a minute. He heard a shout, and looked up. A tree branch, thick with moss, was falling. Immobilized by shock, Gray stood there, watching the log fall.

There was a thump and suddenly all Gray could see was goop, and it was getting in his eyes. He forced his face out of the 'quicksand' and rubbed his eyes forcefully. Then he realized he couldn't get up and his face flushed when he realized Mariya was on top of him, although she was looking back at the tree.

"Gray, your magic won't work here. Only certain levitating magic. It's because of that tree," Mariya whispered, watching as everyone tried to stop it with their powers. Ultimately, only Happy was able to bring out his magic, Aera.

"RUN!" Hoshiko yelled, her face contorting in seriousness. Gray felt a chill run down his spine at the girl's sudden change of mood. Mariya hopped off him, pulled him up and started to run.

"I don't wanna be a ham dinner!" Complained Happy, whizzing away on his wings.

"Impossible! YOU ARE NOT A PIG!" Lucy yelled, running as fast as she could. She dropped her keys again and snatched it up, but Leo's key dropped from the coil and Lucy quickly bent down to pick it up, sweating falling off her face as she hurried to pick it up.

Unfortunately for her, her hurry made picking it up harder for her. Leo slipped out of her grasp one, twice, thrice. Lucy glanced up when Erza shouted at her, and saw the tree was smashing down a branch upon her head.

Lucy clutched her head and Gray closed his eyes, expecting a sickening crunch. It never came.

Gray glared at the tree after he saw Lucy being safely pulled away by Happy.

"WHY CAN'T I SUMMON ANYONE!?" Lucy screeched to no one in particular. Tears of alarm and (somewhat comedic) fear were pouring out of her eyes as she ran with amazing speed.

Natsu tried to burn the goop, attempting to make it go away. But it slicked back over the burned spot with amazing speed, so Natsu decided to bolt.

Soon, they all reached the edge of the outskirts. And then it hit Gray. No, I mean literally. It hit his forehead.

A spore was hanging on a tree, but it was now stuck to Gray's face.

Happy pointed at it, speechless. Erza did the same.

Hoshiko didn't say anything, and neither did Mariya.

Only Natsu was laughing his butt off with Lucy.

"What… Kind of… Spore is that?" Erza stammered, pointing at the huge blue blob that had stuck itself onto Gray.

He would like to know the answer to that, too.

Mariya stared at Erza with a small hint of disbelief and a pinch of distaste. "It is a rain spore, a common spore in the outskirts of Yovanna."

"We are in… Yovanna?" Happy asked uneasily. Lucy's eyes widened as she stared at the different landscape that her eyes offered her. No trees, almost, and the stench of dark magic was high in the air.

Gray winced; he never did pay attention to the studies Ul taught him about Yovanna. The only thing he could remember is that the number of dark guilds outnumbered the legal guilds, here.

"The Deliora beast… Has fled to Yovanna, of all places?" Erza asked, uncertain and surprised. She flicked her wrist.

"Yes. Yovanna is an ideal place for a monster to flee to, considering the amount of dark magic this place has, although the kingdom is trying hard to rid of it." Mariya said, glancing around the hazy plains.

"The princess Vivian? I thought she specialized in dark magic!" Natsu exclaimed thoughtfully.

"Idiot. That is the EX-princess Hazela." Gray said, punching his head.

"Shut up, Ice-face!"

"Hush, Flame-breath!"

"Both of you, stop it! Yovanna is a place with high security," Mariya hissed, darting her gray eyes around nervously. "If they catch us here… That's not good."

"Too late." Hoshiko whispered. She pointed at a blurry figure of soldiers tromping in the distance, towards _them_.

"Oh, joy."


	6. Meet Hiro and Insane Natsu!

Tamiya sniffed, struggling to hold back tears of horror. What had her cousin become? An assassin? No, she didn't kill anyone… yet. Only for one person…

She really was clingy.

Tamiya sniffed again, and turned towards the horizon, only one thing in mind.

_I'm going to kill whoever hired Mariya to become an assassin._

That would be hard, Tamiya thought grudgingly as she leapt over a log. Dark guilds are so hard to find these days.

* * *

"Soldiers of Yovanna." Mariya muttered. Then she grabbed Gray's hand and yelled, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

"If you value it," added Hoshiko, trotting with incredible speed (With absolutely no effort at all) besides them. She swept her feet up in a dramatic flair before speeding out in front of them.

Loud shouts of "Hey! Come back here!" and "Slow down, you!" echoed across the clearing. Happy opened up his wings and took flight, picking up Natsu on the way.

Gray tried freezing the ground, but it only melted to dripping, wet and warm water. "H-Hey! Slow down! Lucy's starting to lag behind."

Mariya seemed to freeze, and them she swiftly turned around (Taking Gray flying behind her) and ran towards Lucy. She grabbed Lucy's hand in a steel grip and ran. Lucy, entirely out of energy, was like a carp kite behind her, lifeless and wavy.

Gray struggled to keep up with her, although his legs wouldn't comply. He distinctly heard Mariya mutter something that sounded like "Stupid" and "Soon".

Gray allowed himself a small glance upward to check up on Natsu, although he found that guy really annoying, they were nakamas. He couldn't just leave the airhead to die.

"I'm gonna dieeee…." Lucy mumbled hoarsely. She flapped her other hand out, expressing her displeasure at being dragged by a girl they barely knew. "And those guys are already out of sight. Can't we-"

"NO! We can't stop! They won't! If we do, they'll catch up!" Mariya yelled at them, frustrated.

"…" Gray stared at the slightly blurry Erza running besides them in her bunny suit.

"What?" Erza panted; sweating slightly even though she was wearing a stuffy suit. "Is there something wrong with my rabbit suit?"

"We're going to the northern outskirts, guys." Mariya mumbled. She seemed to freeze when a distance call of, "You!" rang across the clearing.

"They're catching up." Mariya muttered. She sped up her pace. "This is bad. I'm slowing down."

Gray tried to pry his hand one more time from Mariya; what an iron grip. Instead of loosening, the grip tightened and Gray found himself nearly going crazy. This girl liked to do things her own way – seriously. Gray heard a lazy '_hnng_' behind him and when he glanced towards the sound, he watched Lucy sway in the wind like a flag. Suddenly, vaguely in the distance he saw something moving towards them.

And fast.

He was moving faster than Happy in a fish race. His spiky black hair seemed to tussle with the wind, the breeze pushing it this way and that. His eyes were hidden by the hair. He looked young.

Gray watched with disbelief and amazement as the boy started to catch up stealthily.

"O-Oi! Someone's following us, Mariya!" Gray shouted. He tugged at her sleeve with his free hand. Mariya hastily glanced behind herself and paled in the wind. There was a thump, and when Gray looked over, Happy had dropped Natsu on the ground and was teetering back and forth in the air. Natsu quickly got up and raced after them, trailing just behind Erza.

Erza shouted, "Natsu! Keep up!"

Natsu puffed, "I'm trying! OI HAPPY! DID YOU BRING MATCHES WITH YA?"

"NO!" panted Happy. He flapped his wings unsteadily. "You can wait for fire later!"

Gray glanced upwards this time. Hoshiko was already far ahead, like a rabbit. He was amazed the girl could run that fast. Although he was thinking hard already, he felt a pang of surprise when the boy reached them within moments of running.

Gray swiftly flung his arm backwards – Mariya, surprised, let go of his hand, her grip on Lucy lessening. Gray lunged himself at the boy, who dodged. The boy glanced at him sideways, and it was then Gray caught a glimpse of his eyes. He gaped.

Those eyes… They were red.

Completely caught off guard, the boy swiped a low kick at Gray, making him trip. The rest of the gang skid to a halt.

"Gray!" Lucy shouted, trying to detach herself from Mariya, who was staring at the boy.

The kid looked up and held out his fist. It had a blue Fairy Tail stamp on it. Lucy gasped.

"B-But! I've never seen you at the guild before!" She cried into her hand. Erza asked, "Who are you?"

The boy said calmly, "My name is Hiro. I just recently joined Fairy Tail, and Master Makarov has asked me to come find you."

Hoshiko flopped over to them and narrowed her eyes suspiously. Mariya butted in, "How'd you know we were here? We never told anybody except for Mermaid Heels' master. Or I did."

Erza stared at him with a confused expression. The boy shrugged. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I overheard some giggly girls talking about it in Magnolia."

Mariya groaned and Hoshiko sighed. Hoshiko muttered under her breath, "That's Ryrie for you. Can't keep her mouth shut."

"Really," Mariya agreed. Hiro glanced at them with mutual interest. "Also, don't bother to worry about those guards. They're unconscious."

Natsu sent a splintering glare at his way. Then he started to laugh. He laughed so hard, he fell over on his back. Erza face palmed. "Sorry about him. Natsu's strange sometimes."

Lucy nodded knowingly. "He – NATSU!"

Gray whipped around to focus his gaze on Natsu; the stupid flame-brain was sniffing the ground. "Oi, Heat-Face, stop sniffing the ground. You're making us look bad."

Natsu pointed at the ground. "Look. Something ate fire here. LUCKY!" Natsu bellowed. He threw his jacket off and ran around in circles, screaming "FIRE!"

Erza groaned. "Somebody get him some fire." Lucy sighed.

"Aye!" Happy called, pulling Lucy into the air with him. "Lucy, you're heavy."

"SHUDDUP, YOU STUPID CAT!"

Hoshiko pulled out a key and then shook her head. "I can't calm him with any of my keys. Besides," She muttered, glancing at Natsu who was hollering "FIRE! GIMME FIRE!" Like it was the rest of his life, "I bet fire is the only thing that _can_ calm him, mind you." She whispered the last part to Mariya. Mariya stifled a laugh and said, "Right on, Hoshiko. Maybe you could summon a fire spirit?"

Hoshiko opened her magic bag and took out her staff. "Doubt it. Fire spirits aren't that easy to summon." Mariya shrugged.

Gray watched all this with no interest. Hiro impatiently tapped him feet on the ground and Erza knelt on the floor, examining the ground. "Guys, come take a look at this."

"Oi! Natsu! That's dangerous!" Gray warned him, glaring at his childish behavior. The loss of fire however, seemed to make Natsu a little loopy, as the guy kept yelling on with nary a glance at the ice mage. He slid next to Erza and stared at the ground.

In the ground, was a large, burned patch of dirt shaped like a… Footprint? Mariya gasped and quickly said, "That's it! It's Deliora's Reincarnation!"

Erza slightly flinched, as she had just remembered 'Jellal's' part in this.

"No way. This footprint is really, really small. Deliora was bigger than this." Gray said with disbelief.

Hiro gave it a hard stare, and narrowly dodged Natsu's fist. "That really is a small footprint. Is this Deliora beast really that strong?"

Mariya coughed. "The reincarnation, eh… Just happens to have smaller feet, but I'm sure he's just as big as he was before."

Gray winced when a mental image of a huge Deliora with small feet came to him. "That would not be a pretty picture."

"NATSU! I got you some fi- WOAH!" Lucy toppled to the ground when Natsu tackled her, grabbing at the fire.

"N-Natsu-san…" Hoshiko sighed.

* * *

**Oh my gosh.**

**It's been two months since I updated this. Forgive me? :3 Yeah? Okay, thanks! **

**Anyways, Finals have been killing me and I need to sleep. I am very sleepy. Been up 'till 1 studying for the past three weeks (I finally went to sleep at 12 yesterday... ^^ YES!**

**Well anyways, Guest, here's your OC...? Sorry of your OC's are a little OOC. I also apologize if any of the canon characters are OOC, too. **

**Been to tired to write, so been to tired to really get them into the character. Maybe I'll come back one day to make them less OOC. Sound good? Kay.**

**I'm tired. Let me sleep now. NO WAIT I NEED TO STUDY FOR MY SCIENCE TEST. Boo.**

**Well uh, yeah. See any mistakes in the chapter? Tell me. Please.**

**~RoyalBlueberry~**


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